Knowle West Nursery School Early Years Pupil Premium Statement 2025/26

The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) is additional funding for Early Years settings to enhance the education provided for eligible 2, 3- and 4-year-olds. It is the responsibility of each setting to identify children and families that are eligible for the funding and support them to apply for it.

EYPP has one aim: to improve outcomes for socio-economically disadvantaged children from 9 months upwards. A child’s family income shouldn’t be a barrier to their achievement and wellbeing in the early years. Early years settings (including childminders, nurseries and schools) can use this increased funding to help every child to flourish.

EYPP is an extra £1.00 for every universal hour (or first 15 hours of Working Parent Entitlement for 2s). It is made available to households who are not working and claiming Universal Credit. The intention is to use the money to improve the attainment of the child, when compared to a peer from a working family. Bristol City Council has stipulated that we cannot take the money off the bill for additional childcare hours, but it can be used to offset charges for trips, meals, consumables etc.

If a child is eligible, the Nursery will receive £570 annually to support them. This is in comparison to the £1,515 that primary schools receive per pupil for Pupil Premium. Primary Schools have received Pupil Premium funding since 2011, with Early Years settings receiving the funding from 2015.

Families Are Eligible If:

• They are receiving Income Support
• They are receiving Jobseekers Allowance
• They are supported through the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• They receive Child Tax Credit
• They receive Universal Credit
• They are currently being looked after by a local authority in England or Wales
• They have left care in England or Wales through an adoption order, a special guardianship order, or a child arrangements order

Our Approach

Knowle West Nursery School uses the EEF Guide to the Early Years Pupil Premium to support our EYPP Strategy. We align with ‘The Balanced Approach’:

• Continuing to develop quality practice to deliver the greatest benefits for disadvantaged children.
• Considering the particular strengths and needs of each child.
• Making and embedding changes to practice, so that our EYPP funding continues to benefit disadvantaged children in the future.

High-quality education and care are important for all children, but the benefits for socio-economically disadvantaged children are greater. We continue to develop the quality of practice through effective professional development.

How We Use Our EYPP Funding

Healthy Snacks and Food Education

We use EYPP to implement fully subsidised snacks to ensure that all children receive a nutritious healthy snack at least once a day. The benefits of children having access to healthy food and choice at school is well documented and is seen to have a direct impact on both physical and mental health and wellbeing.

We also work in collaboration with The Children’s Kitchen, through the Feeding Bristol charity, and plan dedicated food exploration sessions and growing projects across the year, enabling us to continue to promote healthy lifestyles and behaviours. Our association with Feeding Bristol and The Children’s Kitchen supports us to embed the key message of food equality and tackle the genuine lived experiences of food insecurity and socioeconomic disadvantage within the school community.

Therapeutic Enrichment and Family Support

We use EYPP to fund our high-quality therapeutic enrichment offer, which targets our critical intervention and prevention work with the whole family. The school has a dedicated team of Trauma Informed Practitioners who work directly with children and their families. This includes one-to-one therapeutic intervention work with individual children; individual therapeutic intervention with a parent or carer; and delivering The Nurture Programme, which offers an intensive programme of parenting support to groups of parents and carers. The school is also a recognised Trauma Informed Practice Hub for Bristol, delivering training and support for the wider early years and school-based sector.

Professional Development and Specialist Support

We use EYPP to sustain and improve our high-quality education and care offer through continuous professional development and maintaining a highly qualified staff team. We have commissioned a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, who works across the school supporting staff, children and families. Together we have developed a bespoke speech, language and communication offer for the school which provides advice, assessment, targeted support and staff training.

The school recognises that by targeting early intervention and prevention in the areas of speech, language and communication, this has a direct impact on children’s literacy attainment and tackles the disadvantage associated with poor attainment in these critical areas of child development. In addition, staff are offered access to recognised courses such as Makaton, More Than Words, Learning Language and Loving It, and Emotion Coaching. The school supports a high percentage of children with SEND and has created a responsive, inclusive environment where every child gets what they need to achieve and succeed. Each provision offers an enhanced ratio of additional adult support where required, targeting the most disadvantaged and vulnerable learners.